


The Weiss Schnee Protection Squad

by The_Escaped



Category: RWBY
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, In this house we love and respect Weiss Schnee, Jacques Schnee's A+ Parenting, Oscar's there too but he's asleep, Post-Volume 6 (RWBY), Weiss Schnee Needs a Hug, Weiss Schnee gets ALL the hugs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-11-28 21:03:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20973008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Escaped/pseuds/The_Escaped
Summary: “Out with it,” she ordered, to distract herself from the idea of it. "What are you all planning to do to Atlas?"Ruby opened her mouth and closed it again. She’d gone very pink.“Ok, first you have to promise to not get mad.”





	The Weiss Schnee Protection Squad

**Author's Note:**

> I swear on all that is holy, I'm working on How to Succeed in Captivity. I have like over 70 pages but not the next chapter, of course. It's really frustrating. I just wanted to post this before Volume 7 shows up! I. CANNOT. WAIT.
> 
> Notes for this fic:  
I know that getting Weiss back home is just the line they're feeding the authorities this whole time, but it still bothers me that they keep saying it in private. Like, Weiss WAS home. She LEFT home. To find YOU. So I wrote this.  
Takes place immediately after the Vol. 6 finale.

Qrow and Maria shooed Weiss out of the control room as they negotiated clearance with the Atlesian border guards, which was ridiculous, because she was doing most of the diplomacy herself.

“It’s bad enough we had to let you kids do most of the fighting,” Qrow said, shoving her back with a hand that was insulting in its gentleness, “Leave this to us.”

Weiss flared with indignation. She didn’t like Qrow- she still hadn’t forgotten the way he’d attacked Winter for no reason at Beacon, and the drunken way he’d conducted himself all over Mantle hadn’t thawed her perceptions of him at all.

But just as she opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind, he fixed her with a knowing look.

“I’ll let you know if Winter gets on the call, kid. I promise.”

Slowly, Weiss shut her mouth again. Maybe she could see a _little _of what Ruby liked about him. A small, small amount.

Maria patted Weiss on the hand.

“You’ve done more than your part,” she said, “Let us take a turn at it.”

Weiss sighed and turned to her.

“If he gets on the call with Winter, she’s going to shoot down the ship,” she told her bluntly, “Don’t let him talk to her.”

Ignoring Qrow’s protests of this, she turned and rejoined her classmates.

Oscar was asleep on Nora’s shoulder. She and Ren were propping each other up, chests rising and falling rhythmically. They were holding hands in their sleep. It was adorable. Jaune was looking much less green than he had a few hours ago, but he was still keeping a bucket handy just in case. He grinned at Weiss, looking exhausted but more peaceful than she could remember him being in months.

Weiss half expected Yang to be teasing him with the old nickname “Vomit boy”, but Yang was sitting half turned away in the closest corner.

Weiss blinked, mind reshuffling. Yang, Blake, and Ruby were _all_ sitting in the corner, huddled together and whispering.

Weiss had a collection of memories from Beacon that justified why the sight made a shiver run down her spine.

She should have known that they would somehow find time for shenanigans the second they made it to _her_ country.

They were so focused on whatever mischief they were planning that they didn’t even notice her slinking closer.

“So I can be there for that bit, but I’m not good at the whole formality, fancy-talking-”

“I can do that part,” Blake said, sounding eager in the way that reminded Weiss of a stalking tiger, “I can be diplomatic.”

Ruby squinted at her. Yang’s eyebrow rose. “_Will_ you be diplomatic with a bunch of bigoted, faunus-hating Atlesian rich people?” she asked knowingly.

Blake was silent for a beat too long.

“I can be diplomatic,” she repeated, which was not at all an answer. Ruby and Yang both rolled their eyes in the same way. Weiss wondered if that was a sister thing. Did she and Winter do that?

“Fine, you know what, I’d pay to see it,” Yang said, “But what about when we have to talk to the military? Ironwood must like me if he sent me this, so maybe-”

"Yeah-"

“What are you three doing now?” Weiss demanded and they all jumped, confirming her suspicion that they were up to no good.

“Jaune,” Ruby whined. She’d grown up in the time between when Father had plucked her out of Vale and rejoined her in Mistral. She was more thoughtful now, less impulsive. But exhaustion from taking on the Grimm had turned her back into the child Weiss had first met. “You were supposed to warn us!”

Jaune shrugged but didn’t actually look that sorry. Weiss put her hands on her hips.

“Isn’t it enough that we’re in the middle of this hidden war? What kind of trouble are you cooking up on the side?”

“We’re not cooking up anything,” Yang said. Blake continued to look worryingly innocent.

“We might be cooking up a little trouble,” she admitted. Ruby shoved her.

“No we’re not.”

Weiss crossed her arms. “I _will_ find out,” she warned, and felt a little satisfaction when all three of her teammates immediately deflated because they knew her well enough to know that she would.

Whenever she said things like that at home, Father would either dismiss the idea of her being capable of anything as ludicrous, or got angry at her for interfering. Mother was hardly around anymore, but when she was she only made soft, placating sounds, her gaze fuzzy and fleeting. Whitley, as always, was a pest, and Winter hadn’t been properly home in years and still thought of her as half a child. It was nice to be understood.

The knot of tension that had been in the back of her throat ached. It had been there since she’d found out they were going to Atlas, but Weiss had been able to successfully avoid it until recently.

They needed to do this. They had to get into Atlas and Weiss going home was the fastest way to do that.

She was used to being used. It was better that it was her team instead of Father. It was different. They’d asked her. She was okay with it. She _was_.

“Out with it,” she ordered, to distract herself from the idea of it. "What are you all planning to do to Atlas?"

Ruby opened her mouth and closed it again. She’d gone very pink.

“Ok, first you have to promise to not get mad.”

Weiss crossed her arms over her chest. “That sounds promising.”

She bypassed pink and went straight to red.

“It’s…we’re worried about Atlas.”

“We’ll be fine,” Weiss told her, “Winter has enough contacts in the military that it shouldn’t be a problem getting us in, and even if it is Ironwood likes us fine.” She glanced at Blake, at the ears she’d been wearing openly since she’d arrived at Haven, and felt her stomach twist. “If it’s about the faunus, I can make sure that no one says anything to you in front of m-”

“Weiss.”

Ruby was looking up at her. She was smiling softly, almost like she was in pain. Was she still tired from stopping the Grimm? She held out a hand.

“Come sit down.”

And Weiss was powerless to resist that smile. She took Ruby’s hand and sank down to her knees next to her.

Ruby didn’t let go of her once she was sitting, even if she was having a little trouble meeting her eyes. It had bothered her those first months at Beacon, how _physical _Ruby and Yang were. Now it was comforting.

“We’re worried about _you_.” Blake clarified, when Ruby wasn’t forthcoming.

“Me?” Weiss was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She was practically the only one here who hadn’t nearly killed themselves yesterday.

But everyone else was nodding.

“We know we’ve been talking over and over about getting you back to your family,” Ruby said, and Weiss was startled to realize that Ruby actually sounded distressed, “But you know that that’s just the story, right? You know that we know you left for a reason, right?”

Weiss had known that. She’d told herself that over and over, as they went over what they would say to the Atlesian military, as they told it the first time with Cordovin. It was all an act. Her friends knew better. They knew her.

But to hear Ruby say it made it a little easier for her to breathe. All this time, they’d been talking about her value as the Schnee Heiress, which wasn’t even true anymore, about getting her home to her family, and no matter how many times Weiss reminded herself that it was necessary it had still hurt.

She cleared her throat. “Of course I know,” she said hastily.

“Well, we’re worried.” Ruby shook herself and went into team leader-mode, pointing down at the scroll on the floor. “I’ll be with you for most events, Yang will be with you when we talk to the military-”

“Since I’m the one who looks the part,” she explained, flexing her flesh arm. The Atlas tech of her prosthetic probably wouldn’t hurt either.

“-and Blake is going to cover any formal events.” Blake’s grin was even more disturbingly violent than Yang’s.

All of them were nodding along like this made any sense, even Jaune. They might as well have been speaking in another language.

“I don’t understand.”

Ruby hesitated over her words. Weiss had always thought that made her seem childish, but now she knew that it was because she cared enough to want them to come out right.

“You were so unhappy,” she said at last, “When we found out we had to go to Atlas. You don’t want to go back.”

“We all know it was hard just getting out,” put in Yang.

“It’s hard to go back somewhere when you thought you left for good,” Blake said quietly, “But you don’t have to do it alone. It’s easier with friends.”

Ruby shifted like she wanted to hug Weiss. “We don’t want you to feel like you’re alone. We’re a team. We’re _your_ team. We’ve got your back.”

Jaune cleared his throat, lifting one hand.

“We’ve got your back too,” he said, “We’re thinking of being more of a rearguard thing though, around you and Blake. Like as backup. If we can hold Nora back that long.”

Weiss could only stare.

She’d told them what had happened to Atlas. She’d told them about the added military security measures and the shifting political climate of the council.

She hadn’t told them about Father. She hadn’t told them about the scene she’d made at the charity gala, or that she’d been disinherited. She hadn’t told them about being locked in her room, or how the thought of going back made it hard to breathe. And Weiss had never suspected that they would figure it out on their own.

Something pressed down on her hand, cool and metallic. Yang’s free hand.

“I’m going to be there while we meet with your family,” Yang said, voice low but deadly, and Weiss remembered what she’d said about her mother and her father that day on the roof. She’d just said it because she’d wanted Yang to forgive Blake, but Yang’s eyes were red now. She was _angry_, Weiss realized. She was angry for _Weiss_. “And I’m going to beat the shit out of your dad if he says anything to you.”

Ruby put her hand on top of Yang’s. “We’re _all_ going to be there while you meet with your family,” she corrected. Blake smiled and dipped her head in agreement.

Weiss looked between the three of them. At Jaune who was watching with the earnest determination that meant he would do something to help if it killed him.

Weiss had never doubted that Winter loved her. Winter was harsh and held a high standard for herself and Weiss- an impossible standard, Weiss was starting to realize- and she didn’t initiate the kinds of casual touch that were so common with Ruby and Yang, but Winter had always loved her. Winter showed that she loved her by trusting that she was capable. By knowing that Weiss was strong enough to handle Father on her own, now that she was older.

But this was something different. They wanted to help her, and it had nothing to do with how strong they thought she was. They knew she was strong. They wanted to help her anyway.

Weiss’s vision blurred suddenly. She blinked, trying to get it back to normal.

Someone hugged her hard. Weiss opened her eyes to a red blur, Ruby’s cloak settling around her shoulders and Ruby’s arms around her back. Then a yellow one, quickly followed by black.

She hugged back, because if she tried to explain to everyone how much this meant to her she would end up sobbing and it would be completely undignified.

“I don’t suppose I can get in on that too,” Jaune said sheepishly, and Ruby started giggling against her. Weiss reached out a hand and tugged him in.

“We’re your family too,” Ruby whispered quietly. Weiss tightened her arms.

“I know. Thank you.”

The others drew back a little, but Ruby kept her arms around Weiss.

“I’m writing a list of things I want to tell your father,” Blake said casually, “I should be able to keep him distracted.”

"And if we're there longer than expected?"

Blake was earnest. "It's a very long list."

Weiss wiped under one eye and laughed. Yang smiled indulgently at Blake. She hadn’t let go of Blake's hand the whole time. When Yang glanced at her next, Weiss smirked at her. She instantly flushed red.

“Gods, you’re just as bad as Ruby,” she muttered, looking away.

“_I_ prefer to think of it as she’s just as _good_ as me!” Ruby declared.

Weiss liked the sound of that more than she was willing to admit. She shifted so she was still pressed against Ruby’s side and gestured at the planning spread out on Yang’s scroll.

“What about shifts for protecting Blake?” she said, and settled in to plan.

Atlas wouldn’t know what hit it.

**Author's Note:**

> Bonus ending:  
They startled at a flash of light. Qrow looked up at them from the entrance to the cockpit and took another picture with his scroll.  
“That’s going on the mantle,” he said, “Tai would kill me if I didn’t get some pictures for him.”
> 
> ...
> 
> And then they all take a turn punching Weiss's dad in the face the end. 
> 
> Come say hi on tumblr if you feel like it! I'm @shitlinguistssay


End file.
